KINGSTON >> Despite being acquitted of murdering his former lover’s husband, Kingston dentist Gilberto Nunez faces the possibility of spending a significant amount of time in prison.

On Tuesday, the jury that found Nunez not guilty of killing 44-year-old Saugerties resident Thomas Kolman convicted the dentist of two counts of possession of a forged instrument, for writing a letter on forged CIA letterhead and possessing fake CIA identification.

On those charges, Nunez faces a maximum sentence of 2-1/3 to seven years in state prison.

Beyond that, the 49-year-old faces numerous charges stemming from two other alleged incidents that could add significant time to his prison sentence.

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In April 2015, six months before he was charged in Kolman’s Nov. 29, 2011 death, Nunez was indicted for seven felonies — grand larceny, insurance fraud and five counts of falsifying business records — related to a 2014 fire in a building he owned adjacent to his 389 Washington Ave. dental office.

Authorities alleged that in June 2014, Nunez stole $8,400 from the Preferred Mutual Insurance Co. by way of “several fraudulent insurance acts” related to the fire.

The Feb. 20, 2014, fire, heavily damaged a building that formerly housed a chiropractic office. No one was in the building at the time of the fire and there were no reports of injuries, and Nunez was not accused of setting the blaze.

Nunez’s lawyer, Evan Lipton, said at the time that the amount of money cited in the indictment represented “a tiny fraction” of an otherwise undisputed insurance claim for the building that burned.

He said Nunez maintained his innocence and expected to be exonerated.

In July 2015, Nunez was charged with allegedly making false material statements on a pistol permit application filed with the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office five months earlier.

Authorities said Nunez checked the “No” boxes in answering questions about whether he ever had been terminated or discharged from any employment or the armed forces and whether he had been arrested.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Nunez was discharged from the Marines with a “separation in lieu of trial by court martial” after he went absent without leave in August 1987. He was caught in July 1990.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Nunez on all of the charges, and was the prosecutor in the murder case, because the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office has a conflict of interest.

In October 2015, three months after his second arrest, Nunez was charged with second-degree murder in Kolman’s death. Authorities alleged the dentist fatally poisoned Kolman — by giving him coffee laced with a medical sedative — so that Nunez could have Kolman’s wife, Linda, to himself.

On Tuesday, after the murder acquittal, Ulster County Judge Donald A. Williams said he would meet with attorneys next week to discuss scheduling trials on the remaining charges. He said he would not entertain plea bargains in either case.

And though Williams tentatively scheduled an Aug. 16 sentencing for the forgery charges, he said he will not sentence Nunez until the other cases are resolved.

Of all the charges Nunez still faces, the grand larceny and insurance fraud counts, both Class D felonies, are the most serious, said Ulster County Public Defender Andrew Kossover.

Falsifying business records, making an apparently false sworn statement and offering a false instrument for filing are Class E felonies, which carry a maximum sentence of 1-1/3 to 4 years in state prison.

Because the charges against Nunez stem from three separate alleged acts, convictions could lead Williams to stack the sentences, meaning Nunez could face a potential maximum of between six and 18 years in state prison.

Nunez remains free on the $1 million bail he posted after being charged with murder.

About the Author

Since 1990, Patricia R. Doxsey has been a reporter for the Freeman, covering politics, crime, and government affairs. Reach the author at pdoxsey@freemanonline.com
or follow Patricia R. on Twitter: @pattiatfreeman.